


Will You Trust Me?

by OceanShay



Category: Campaign (Podcast)
Genre: Other, considering this whole thing is like over the course of two or three days?, i might do an alternate happy ending at some point but as of right now, it follows the original swan lake ending, swan lake AU, trying to squeeze characterization and shit into such a short time period
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24235762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanShay/pseuds/OceanShay
Summary: Love has never been in the cards for Gable. They never felt interested in it but their mother has placed a lot of significance on the topic. Travis has been a swan for most of his life now and spends his days in the forest, swimming on the lake and thinking about life. A lot. When they meet, Gable isn’t sure what to make of Travis, but they seem to hit it off together quickly. Will Gable be able to break Travis’ curse? Will Travis finally get over himself and his attitude? Will my backspace key stop breaking on tumblr?
Relationships: Gable/Travis Matagot
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Swan Lake Comic Page](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/621394) by lopxart. 



> I'm trying the "inspired by" section out for the first time so hopefully that works. If not, it was inspired by Lopxart on tumblr, who made a post about a Swan Lake AU and I took it and ran. I've never actually seen Swan Lake so I just made stuff up based on some summaries I read.

Travis and his friends had gone hunting in the woods together. They were after some meat to show off their talents at the feast tomorrow, and to have some fun together one last time before they all got married off to somewhere far away. 

As day turned to dusk, and dusk turned to night, the group of friends were still in the woods, getting ready to head back to the castle. They double checked that they had all the animals they had killed, their weapons, cloaks, and anything else they may have brought with them. As they began their trek back, a shadowy figure walked towards them. 

“Why have you come here, prince?” A smooth, deep voice asks. 

“To hunt for food and have fun! What else would we be doing here?” Travis says, only a little phased by the mysterious stranger in front of them. 

“T-Travis, I don’t think you s-should have said that,” said Dref from behind him. 

“Your friend is right. You’ve trespassed on my land, and I cannot simply forgive you for that.” 

Travis turns around to look at the others, confused and concerned looks crossing their faces. 

“Well we didn’t know it was your forest, you should have a fence or a sign up or something. We  _ promise _ we won’t do this again.” He says, displaying his hands in front of him, a lilted grin on his face. 

“It’s a sacred law that nobody shall hunt in my forest without permission or an offering first. I must make you pay for this.” She says calmly, raising her own hands. 

“Look lady, everyone just thinks those are stories and only the superstitious people really believe them. You can’t expect me to just take these things at face value, can you?” 

She never answered, rather, she raised her arms and pain overtook their bodies.


	2. Act I

Gable descended the stairs as their mother approached them. They greeted each other with kisses on the cheek and their mother clasped their shoulders. “Gable, you are coming of age today and need to get married. We will be having a ball tomorrow for you to find a suitable spouse.” 

Gable gently took their mother’s hands off their shoulders. “Mother, today’s my birthday, could this not have waited until tomorrow? I wanted to spend some time with my friends, maybe go hunting with them.” 

“Yes, I know you want to go be with your friends, but you cannot keep this lifestyle up forever. What will you do when I finally pass away and you must take the throne?” 

“That hasn’t happened yet, so I haven’t thought about it. Besides, you’ll be alive for many more years. We have the best doctors around and you  _ have  _ been pretty good about keeping up your health. Surely I will be much older when it comes time to think about those things.” 

The Queen sighed and once again placed her hand on Gable’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. 

“The future is never set in stone. Just think about who you want to marry at least before tomorrow for me?” 

“I suppose I can do that.” 

Gable reached up to grab their mother’s hand and squeezed it gently. 

“Thank you,” she said. 

\---

A few hours passed filled with dancing, drinking, and talking amongst friends. Gable took a sip of their drink as their friend tried to tell them a story without laughing too much. The sun was starting to sink, but it was still light out. 

The Queen stepped over to her child, tapping them gently on the shoulder to get their attention. 

“Hmm? Yes, what do you want now?” They asked, not entirely sure as to why their mother was interrupting their conversation. 

“Since I cannot stop you, I thought you might enjoy one last hunt with your friends,” the Queen said, bringing out a crossbow from behind her back. “It was your father’s and he would want you to have it.” 

Gable stared down at the gift, gently taking it from her hands into their own. The two never really talked about their father, but Gable sometimes overheard stories from workers in the castle. He loved to hunt, a master with the crossbow. 

“Thanks…” They said, trailing off and turning the weapon over in their hands. 

Hildred took a look over their shoulder, wanting to see what Gable’s mother had given them. 

“Ooooooooh, are we going on a hunt today?” She asked. “It’s been a while since we’ve done that.” 

“Yes, we are. Get everyone together, we’ll leave in a few minutes.” 

With that, Hildred ran off to get her own crossbow and Gable gave their mother a tight hug. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading to the end! There's still three more parts that will be updated throughout this week, but if you want to read all of it at once, I posted it as one big post on my tumblr @oceanaromantic! As always, remember to leave comments and kudos on your favorite fics since that's a huge source of motivation for writers everywhere, especially now!


	3. Act II

The group of friends walked out into the woods, having, of course, made an offering to the Forest Queen before stepping foot into the forest. They broke off in small groups to try and catch more game without disturbing the animals as easily. 

Gable and Hildred walked together for some time before Gable got lost. They didn’t remember if they took a wrong turn or if Hildred had stopped and they just didn’t hear her say anything. Either way, they ended up alone in a clearing by a beautiful lake. They never realized it was there, but then again, they normally didn’t come this far into the woods on their own. 

There appeared to be some swans on the lake, swimming around peacefully. Gable set their crossbow down and leaned up against a tree, watching the birds move across the surface of the lake. They couldn’t make a shot from here and didn’t want to risk them flying away if they got closer, but there was still something oddly calming about just watching the swans, distracting them from their thoughts. 

\---

They couldn’t tell how much time had passed when they heard rustling behind them.

“Gable! There you are! We’ve been looking for you all evening! How’d you end up all the way out here?” Hildred shouted from behind them. 

Gable jumped up at the sudden noise, hand reaching for the crossbow reflexively before realizing who it was. 

“I don’t know. One second I was with you and the next I was here. Don’t worry about me though, I’ll be back later. I want to try and get one of those swans on the lake but too many people might scare them off.” 

Hildred looked past them to the lake and saw the swans swimming in the center of the lake, which appeared golden in the setting sun. 

“Alright, whatever you say Gable.” She said, patting their shoulder before yelling at the others to head back to the castle. 

\--- 

As the sun continued to sink into the sky, Gable wondered if the swans would ever come ashore. Surely they needed to come back eventually. The sky turned golden, then pink, and finally an inky black, the moon and stars reflecting from the lake’s surface. 

The swans finally came ashore when the moon rose just above the treeline. Gable slowly crept forward with their crossbow loaded and aimed at the most beautiful swan of all. This one even had an old crown on its head, styled like that of the rulers from decades ago. It must have fallen off into the lake long ago and been picked up by the swan. 

Their finger hovered gently over the trigger as they found the best spot for a clean kill when the swan ducked down and began… changing shape? Gable kept the crossbow up as they approached, keeping to the trees so as not to disturb whatever it was that stood on the beach. 

A figure stood up where the swan had been; a beautiful, slender man with silver hair and clothes stood up before them. Gable, unsure of what to do, kept the crossbow in front of them, aiming it past the person (or swan-person, as it was) in front of them and firing a warning shot into the lake. 

The man jumped, cursing loudly and looking in Gable’s direction, searching for who fired the shot. 

“I know you’re out there! You don’t scare me! Shoot again, I dare you!” He said, stretching his arms out wide. 

Gable sighed and lowered the crossbow, seeing that whoever this was, he was mostly harmless. They then stepped back into the clearing, making a show of putting the weapon on the ground, along with undoing the quiver along their waist and dropping it into the sand. 

“Oh, so it was you, was it?” 

“I thought you were a swan, that’s all.” Gable said, crossing their arms over their chest. 

“Well, you see, I’m a different bird, but I can understand where you got confused.” 

The man turned around and began dancing by himself on the beach, graceful like a bird, but still lonely. 

“Care to join me?” He asked, extending a hand to Gable. 

“Only if you tell me your name.” 

“Travis, and yours?” 

“Gable.” They said, moving forward to grab his hand. Gable was never one for dancing, but they let themselves be led by Travis, still unsure of what exactly he was. 

“So… can you just change into a swan whenever you want or something?” 

“I wish it were that easy. A long time ago, me and some friends were cursed by the Forest Queen for breaking one of her rules or something. I didn’t see what the big deal was, but she changed us into swans, allowing us to only be human at night.” 

Gable stayed silent for a moment, thinking about what he just said. 

“And after we were cursed to be swans forever, our families wept for years. Their tears make up the lake here. It wasn’t there when we were cursed…” He said trailing off, thinking about how his family had lived and died without him all those years ago. 

“I… I’m very sorry for what happened to you. Is there a way to break this curse?” Gable asked, slowing down, but still moving with Travis in the dance. 

Travis took a deep breath, coming to a stop. 

“One of us needs to be someone’s first and only love. Only then will we be able to remain human and properly die of old age.” 

At that Gable sat down in the sand, thinking about Travis’ response. Travis sat down next to them, leaning back and looking up at the stars. 

“It’s not a bad life we lead, you know. We don’t age, injuries don’t last for longer than a day, we can’t really be killed.” He said. 

“It must get lonely. Without being able to see your other friends and your family ever.” Gable said. 

Travis was taken a little off guard by the statement. “Yeah, I suppose. You get used to it after a few years though.” 

“But you shouldn’t have to. You shouldn’t have to be used to being a swan and being away from your family and friends. This isn’t right.” 

There was a tense pause in the conversation as they both let what Gable said sink in. 

“I… 

“I’ve never been in love.” Gable says with a shaky breath. 

Travis looks over at them, their eyes focused on the other side of the lake. 

“Well, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?” Travis said, scooting a little closer to Gable. 

Gable looked over at Travis for the first time since sitting down. “That would probably be the best place to start, huh.” 

They began talking about their home, their friends, what they did when they weren’t training for being the next ruler of the kingdom, even how boring their training was. Slowly, they started relaxing, opening up to Travis more, as he also told them about his life before. The two laughed together, gently shoving each other when they said something ridiculous. Gable finally felt like they could be themself with someone and Travis had finally found someone to talk to that wasn’t one of his swan friends.

\---

By the time the moon began to sink behind the horizon, Gable realized just how long they had been out. 

“I have to be going, but… you aren’t that bad.” They said, grinning. 

“Likewise.” Travis said, standing up. He offered a hand to Gable to pull them up and into one last embrace. 

Gable opened their mouth to say something, but they were interrupted by a loud voice behind them. 

“Go, dance on the lake, my swans. Far away from shore, so this human cannot follow you.” It said. Travis jerked away from the hug and felt himself pulled towards the lake, dancing. From around the shore, his friends also came out with him. 

“Travis!” Gable shouted, reaching out for him as he danced further and further towards the center of the lake. They tried to follow, but they sank in the water instead of floating above it. 

“I suggest you go home, young royal.” The voice behind them said. 

A tear escaped from Gable’s eyes as they turned around, grabbed their crossbow and bolts, and walked home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this far! Only three more parts to go! If you want to read everything now, you can find it in my #shay writes tag on my tumblr (@oceanaromantic). As always, remember to leave comments and kudos on your favorite fics! It's hard to find motivation to write in these trying times and these things help remind us that people like our work!


	4. Act III

Gable awoke the next day after a fitful sleep. They only got two or three hours of it after coming home late from the hunt, having spent a large amount of time talking with that swan-prince bird person. They still didn’t know what to make of him, annoying sure, but maybe if they had met before, Gable would have been able to present him to their mother for today. 

In either case, Gable needed to get ready for the big day ahead of them. The servants already had breakfast and their clothes ready so they could have enough time to get properly dressed for that evening’s events. 

“Where were you last night, Gable?” Their mother asked, sitting across from them with her own food. 

“Must’ve fallen asleep in the woods I suppose.” They said, taking another forkful of food. 

“But Hildred told me that you told her to just leave you alone, that you would be back in an hour or two.” 

“Did I? I guess I did. I think I fell asleep against that tree waiting for the animals to come into range or something.” 

Their mother looked skeptical at that, but didn’t say anything else. 

“You know you have to pick your future spouse tonight,” she said, handing her dishes to a servant waiting nearby. 

“I am fully aware that you intend for me to do so, yes.” 

“You need to marry so that after I die, our reign can continue. The choosing ceremony is a part of a long tradition--” 

“Yes yes I am  _ fully _ aware of all of these things, mother. I will attend if that will appease you but I will not be choosing a spouse tonight, nor any night for that matter.” 

“What happens when you die? You have no heir? Who will take over this kingdom?” 

“Maybe you and father should have had more kids. Then we wouldn’t be having this issue.” 

At that their mother became furious. “Don’t you dare disrespect your father like that. You know we tried many times to have children and you were the only result of our efforts.” 

Gable finished their breakfast, stood up, and walked away without saying anything else. 

\--- 

Gable sat in their ceremony clothes, fidgeting with the sleeves, thinking about Travis. There was no way he would be able to come in if he was a swan half the time and how would they explain to their mother how they met him in the first place? 

It didn’t really matter. 

Their mother walked in, an apologetic look on her face. “Gable, I am so sorry for how I acted at breakfast. I know this is difficult for you, but it is difficult for me too. I do not want to see my only child be lonely for the rest of their life, you know that. I am just thinking of you.” 

Gable rolled their eyes. “I  _ know _ , and I’ve told you over and over that marriage will not make me happy. I want this kingdom to prosper, but I don’t want to do it in the way you seem to think I should.” 

Their mother sighed and moved to stand in front of Gable. She pulled a chair over and sat down, placing her hands on Gable’s and said “I really, truely, am sorry for all of this. I know that this is a stuffy old tradition, but at least try to pick a suitor tonight? Dance with them, have fun, maybe something will click with one of them.” 

Gable clenched and unclenched their fists, thinking it over. They still didn’t really want to do this, and the whole ball itself felt very stupid and played up. “If I won’t be tied down by any decision I make, then yes, I can promise you at least that much I suppose.” 

“Thank you,” their mother smiled, patting Gable’s hands before standing up to leave. “I will leave you to get ready then.” 

\--- 

Hours later, Gable stood at the top of the stairs as music swelled around the ballroom. They descended the stairs, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. Hildred was there, as were all of their hunting friends. Near them, was a line of young people, around Gable’s age, of various genders, waiting to see if Gable would select them to rule the kingdom. 

Gable first walked over to Hildred and their friends. 

“I can’t believe your mother did all this for you! Not nearly as stuffy as some of those events though,” Hildred said, pulling Gable into a hug. 

Gable hugged her back. “I know. She still wants me to choose someone tonight so I can properly succeed her when the time comes, which hopefully for all of us, won’t be soon.” 

Hildred chuckled at that. 

“Well, you better go dance with your suitors. I’m sure they’re just as nervous as you are,” Hildred said, smirking. 

“Yeah, probably.” 

\--- 

Gable moved across the dance floor, seamlessly flowing between dance partners, some suitors, some not. They would talk for the duration of the song playing and then move on, sometimes picking up after minutes or hours of separation. It wasn’t a bad night, but there were certainly places Gable would rather have been. 

A gust of wind brushed past them as the doors opened. It was late and the air was cold, but still, someone decided to arrive hours late. 

Gable looked over and saw one of their mentors and… Travis? 

Gable let go of their current dance partner and made their way over to Travis. 

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” they said, offering a hand to shake. 

“Oh I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he responded, taking their hand and bringing it to his lips. Something about his whole demeanor felt odd, but they had only spent one night together, so there were certainly things they wouldn’t know about each other. 

“Well I’m glad you made it. Would you care for a dance?” Gable pulled him closer before he could respond and merged into the dancing crowd together. 

\--- 

A lone man walked up to one of the many windows around the ballroom and looked inside. He knew his presence would not be appreciated by Gable’s family and the guests, as much as he wanted to go in and torture them with his presence. 

His eyes scanned the crowd, looking for the person they had spent much of the day thinking about. He saw them dancing with another man, one who looked an awful lot like Travis himself. He wanted to run inside and break the two up and steal Gable away to live in the woods and annoy them with bird jokes for the rest of their life, maybe even break this damn curse. 

Travis moved over to the door and just as he pushed it open, his stomach dropped. 

“I think… I’m in love with you,” Gable said, pulling the fake Travis closer. 

“I cannot  _ believe _ you would fall for this,” Travis shouted from the door, drawing everyone’s attention. “This fake man pretending to be me, and for what? Clout? And you just believed him when he told you he was me?” 

Gable looked slowly between the two men, trying to process what was happening. There were two Travises and one of them was very, very angry right now. But Gable didn’t have time to process things as the other Travis ran out the door and towards the woods. The “Travis” that they had been dancing with transformed, growing an inch or two and visibly changing his face and body, revealing someone else entirely. 

Gable ran out after Travis as fast as they could. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill by now, if you want the whole thing right this instant, go check my "#shay writes" tag on tumblr @oceanaromantic and remember to leave kudos and comments on your favorite works, especially now. I know it's been harder to motivate myself to write even for projects I'm excited about so nice comments are always appreciated.


	5. Act IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Implied suicide content warning, since that's kinda how Swan Lake goes.

“Travis! Travis I’m sorry!” Gable shouted, running for the lake where they had met just yesterday. That felt like years ago now. 

“How could you not know it was a fake? A fake me!” Travis’ voice echoed from ahead of them. 

Gable didn’t say anything else. They had thought it wasn’t really him that they were dancing with, but never said anything. 

They approached the beach, Travis sitting in the sand, head in his hands. “I trusted you, you know.” 

“I… I know.” 

“I wanted to come to the ball too. Bother you in front of your friends. But I guess I didn’t need to. Mr. Fakey Fake came and replaced me huh?” 

“You know I didn’t mean--” 

“Do I know that, though? How do I know you’re being sincere?” 

Gable sighed and sat next to Travis in the sand, resting a hand on his arm. “I don’t know. I don’t know how I can show you that, how I can make it up to you, even if you are a little bit of a bastard. I could make the grandest of gestures, say all the right words, but it wouldn’t mean anything.” 

Travis looked up at the touch, into Gable’s eyes as they spoke. He sighed, too, dropping his hands to the sand. “You’re right. I would have to just trust that you wouldn’t do it again. The only problem is, you can’t break our curse anymore.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“Only someone who’s never been in love and who falls in love with one of us swan-people can break it. I told you this already didn’t I?” 

Gable just shook their head, not recalling any conversation like that happening. 

Travis rolled his eyes and stood up. He offered a hand to Gable. “Would you share this dance with me anyway?” 

Gable took his hand and stood up, pulling him close to dance with. 

And the two swayed together, moving across the beach for a few peaceful minutes. They shared some jokes and toes were stepped on (by accident, of course), until the Forest Queen interrupted them. 

She coughed loudly, not intending to be subtle about her presence as someone else appeared from the treeline behind her. 

“Royal Gable, did you not promise to marry the man standing beside me? Did you not declare your love for him over the swan you are standing with now?” She asked. 

Gable turned to face her, letting go of Travis except for his hand. “You tricked me into saying that! I have no love for that man, only for Travis, as stupid as he may be.” 

“Hmm… indeed you were. But it still stands that your love with Travis will be forbidden, for now he cannot become human and your mother would never allow it. Tiberius, my wonderful son, on the other hand,  _ is  _ a human and is more than delighted to become your husband and to help the kingdom grow and prosper.” 

Gable turned to look at Travis. 

“Will you trust me now?” They said, looking into his eyes and gripping his hand tightly. 

“Do I have any other choice?” 

Gable smiled and rolled their eyes, pulling him with them towards the water. The water rose up to their knees, hips, chest, neck, eyes, and when their heads were covered they kept running anyway. Gable pulled Travis into a tight embrace as the last of their breaths left their bodies. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah sorry for forgetting about this the past few days. I've just been busy with other projects. The epilogue will be up whenever I remember to do that... But until then, thanks for reading this far and remember to leave comments and kudos on your favorite works, especially now because of everything going on. It really helps motivate us to write more things you love.


	6. Epilogue

The other swans, who were humans for the night, came out of the forest and watched, as Travis and Gable ran into the water away from the Forest Queen. 

“I’m certainly n-not sorry to see him go.” Dref said, watching the ripples slowly die off where the two went under. 

“Hey, c’mon! Travis was a good friend and you just won’t admit it,” someone else said, clapping Dref on the back. 

“Jonnit, I know you haven’t kn-known Travis as long as I have, but you would h-hate him if you spent more than twenty minutes with him after a-a hunt.” 

“You’re probably right, but that doesn’t mean we won’t both miss him, right?” 

“That’s certainly o-one way of putting it.” 

The rest of the flock had now gathered around the beach, and together they watched as the souls of Travis and Gable danced together into the sky. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got around to posting the last part, thanks for sticking with me. As always, remember to leave comments and kudos on your favorite works, it's a huge motivational boost for us writers, especially right now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter! I'll be updating once a day over the rest of the week so as not to spam the system. If you really want the whole thing now, you can find it on my tumblr @oceanaromantic and maybe give me a reblog or like over there! Remember to give comments and kudos to all your favorite authors on here, as it is a huge motivator in content production, especially during these our trying times as it were.


End file.
